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Gaza

My Lords, we have all heard a lot to think about in the days that follow this debate. As someone fairly new to this House, this is my first experience of a foreign policy debate where views are growing wider apart not closer together. If I think back to when we began this intense period of debates and Questions following the events in Gaza, at the beginning, there was a high degree of unanimity on all sides about the need to stop this humanitarian catastrophe before more lives were lost. Now that we have entered a period of reflection, inevitably, given the passions and histories of this issue, reflection is quickly followed by recrimination. We would all do well to reflect on that, as a number of speakers have today, because the question of whether we see the will to resolve this conflict has been raised. That will will not come if a mood of anger and recrimination grows. It is only, as so many speakers have said so eloquently, if we can put that behind us and find shared ground and a common commitment to finding peace that we will find it. The reasons for the anger are so clear and must be acknowledged. The rising tide of anti-Semitism here in the UK is utterly abhorrent, and I find it amazing that such things could happen in our country. There is no point in overlooking or seeking to deny Israel’s absolute right of self-defence when its citizens were subjected to month after month of rocket attacks. Even if they were, luckily, not particularly effective and did not cause that many casualties, their purpose, as a number of speakers have said, was absolutely clear; it was to kill as many civilians as possible. Equally, on the other side, it is not helpful to denigrate the political objectives of Palestinians by somehow painting them all as incorrigible terrorists. The Palestinian people want a home. They want a state. They want rescue from 60 years of living in impossible and appalling conditions, which have got worse as their population has grown, as illegal settlements have spread and as their economic conditions and their security situation has not changed. Until we can get over this divided sense of grievance and move forward around a common objective, it is all going to be very difficult. It is a little invidious to single any out, but many noble Lords today—including the noble Lords, Lord Wallace and Lord Alderdice, the noble Baroness, Lady Afshar, and the noble Lord, Lord Stone, with his description of Plonter—have spoken to this need to somehow find a way of getting past assigning blame and to find ways in which we can work together towards solutions. I shall discuss the issues raised in the debate before returning to that theme at the end. The first point that I want to address is the direct question that came in a number of forms, latterly whether the UK Government would support a national unity Government of Palestinians. Let me be as clear as I can be about that. Discussions are going on, which have received some exposure in the press, between the Palestinians, largely through the good offices of the Egyptians, to see whether it is possible to reconstitute a national Government under the Palestinian Authority and its President—those remain, if you like, the legal head of state entity—but with the recognition that a combined Government that could address the immediate economic and political crisis that the territories now face would need to move to elections to elect a new Government for a combined West Bank and Gaza. That Government would obviously then have to be recognised by the international community. Let me, however, immediately turn to what that does or does not mean about the willingness to deal with Hamas. Her Majesty’s Government have not sought to deny the fact that Hamas won an election in Gaza. The issue for us has come, as noble Lords know, from its reluctance to meet the so-called quartet principles—including renouncing terrorism, recognising the State of Israel and other issues. It is equally the case, as so many have said, that a solution will happen only when all Palestinians are involved in the discussion. Everyone involved in this—names from the former Prime Minister Mr Blair to Colin Powell and others have been mentioned in this debate—has essentially made the same point. Equally, in granting the concession of talking to Hamas, there must be a clear understanding the Hamas is moving towards those principles and indeed accepts that the goals of any such discussions are peace and the ability to live at peace with the State of Israel. Talks which do not have that as the clear, stated objective, as the noble Lord, Lord Bew, made clear, are in a sense a dead end and are a redundancy before they begin. This is now an issue where there is clearly going to be movement. The need to see the Palestinians come together again in a national unity Government and the need to engage in a broad-based peace negotiation will lead to a period of shift and transition. I will return to the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Howell, at the beginning. He commented bleakly, but not altogether unfairly, on the weakness of the international conflict mechanisms. He said that despite the cascading statements coming out of the United Nations and its different organs, and despite the expressions and demands of world leaders, still this terrible conflict went on day after day, with a terrible toll on life. Surely, surely, the lesson is again that international institutions can say what they want, but unless there is a sense that they are backed by a strong, combined international will of Governments, their protests are meaningless. It was only when we got to a ceasefire resolution in the Security Council, with 14 in favour and one abstention, that finally we began to get traction. Even then it took days to get to the point of a ceasefire entered into by both sides sequentially. We have to recognise that until the international community comes back around a common strong position which really pushes towards peace in an effective balanced way, these conflict resolutions that we prize so much will remain fairly powerless and impotent. In terms of the current humanitarian situation, an international issue that has also been raised, it is correct, as a number of speakers pointed out, that we still do not have nearly adequate access through these crossings. There is, as the noble Lord, Lord Astor, pointed out, a need for some 500 trucks a day. Well, in the period for which we have the last full report, the week of 26 January to 1 February, the figure was below even 120 a day; it had decreased to 314 for the week. Regarding the point that Hamas must not be able to import materials through the crossings that have potential for double use, I am sure that that is correct, but in reality there is no possibility that the materials being brought in have such double use. In fact, the lists of materials in our view are much too restrictive, with basic building materials needed for restoring homes or for getting the economy moving again being blocked and delayed. This contributes to the failure effectively to get materials in. On the issue of access for NGOs and UN staff, at a recent co-ordination meeting of NGOs in the area, 75 per cent said that they were having access difficulties. Many who recently arrived said that there was a backlog of at least 25 days in their application for entry. The Israeli authorities have assured us that this is because there has been such a rush of people wanting to go and work in Gaza that the system of approval has gotten overwhelmed. The Israelis have assured us that they will bring down to five days these delays in approving international workers for work in Gaza. I turn to the question: what are we doing for the children? The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Chelmsford and others pointed out that half the population of Gaza are kids who have just been through a most traumatic experience. John Holmes, the UN co-ordinator, has made children and their trauma a major priority of the UN flash appeal, which we support. I turn to the issue of the international inquiry or investigation into what has happened. My noble friend Lady Ramsay was among a number of those who said that we must be careful not to bandy around unfounded allegations, and who pointed to sort of revisionist news reports about what might have happened in the attack on the UNRWA school. Others similarly spoke about the fact that white phosphorous may not have been used against civilians in as indiscriminate a way as was earlier reported. However, the noble Lord, Lord Eden, and others immediately said, ““No, these allegations remain very much alive””, and cited alternative press reports to make a point about some of the apparent breaches of the laws of war. This all drives towards the fact that everyone in this House would welcome an adequate international investigation and, if necessary, adequate international accountability through international justice systems if, indeed, war crimes have been committed. I was asked to say where these activities stand. The UN Secretary-General has called for a broader inquiry into the attacks on UN facilities, including the UNRWA schools. The Prime Minister has made it clear that we back the Secretary-General in seeking such an inquiry. On 12 January, the Human Rights Council adopted a resolution to send an international investigating team, which, again, we back. The International Committee of the Red Cross, which always speaks prudently and objectively on such issues, continues with its own internal examination of what has happened. These different processes must be gone through. There also remains an obligation on Israel to investigate, as it is always the country involved that is the port of first call in investigations of this kind. As to whether there is room or need for an ICC action, we on this side want to see the results of these investigations first. We are conscious that we need the facts and an objective account of what happened before we rush to judgment or to further steps in terms of international judicial activity. As for Israel being a non-signatory to the ICC, any ICC action would have to come as a referral by the UN Security Council. That would happen only if there was a very strong case coming out of these earlier investigations, as such an action would be highly difficult. It is enormously important to Her Majesty’s Government that any of the investigations that I have mentioned looks at the claims against both sides and is not one-sided. Allegations of wrongdoing must be investigated against both Hamas and the Government of Israel.